The Chicago History Museum violated federal labor laws after management disciplined and fired employees for unionizing last year, the National Labor Relations Board alleges in a complaint filed last week.
The NLRB says the museum’s former president and former human resources chief started retaliating against employees after they voted to form a union last April, according to a news release from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, the union representing museum employees.
In response, AFSCME Council 31 filed five charges against the museum. Roughly a year later, the NLRB Chicago office issued its formal complaint against the museum — a rare step given that the board only issues such complaints in 3% of unfair labor practice cases each year, according to AFSCME.
“It’s illegal to retaliate against workers for exercising their freedom to form a union,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said. “Although these actions occurred under previous museum leadership, the organization is responsible for that conduct and must make it right.”
A spokesperson for the Chicago History Museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Museum employees voted to unionize on April 1, 2025. Immediately after, Shatierra Parks, the former HR chief, fired four employees, disciplined four others and threatened all employees with termination because of the union effort, according to the NLRB complaint.
Later that month, employees wrote a letter to the museum’s board of trustees alleging that management retaliated against employees for organizing.
But nothing changed, according to the complaint. Three employees were disciplined in May. And in July the museum’s former President Donald Lassere laid off two employees and converted four employees from full-time work to part-time.
Lassere stepped down in January after serving in the role for nearly five years, prompting calls from community members for leadership to reverse the cuts to staff. It’s not clear when Parks departed her post.
Management fired, disciplined and demoted employees because the “employees formed and assisted the Union and engaged in concerted activities, and to discourage employees from engaging in these activities,” the NLRB complaint reads. That conduct means the museum violated the rights workers are guaranteed under the National Labor Relations Act.
The museum must respond to the complaint by May 29.
Read the full complaint: